Yet another report and yet one more warning. Yet another shrug?

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established in 1988 by The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), as per the endorsement by United Nations General Assembly.

The First Assessment Report - in 1990 - consisting of working Group I – Climate Change: The IPCC Scientific Assessment; Working Group II – Climate Change: The IPCC Impacts Assessment; Working Group III – Climate Change: The IPCC Response Strategies. The UN General Assembly based on the findings of the First Assessment decided to initiate negotiations for a framework convention on climate change at Rio Earth Summit in 1992. Hundreds of climate scientists and technologists from around the world, since then, for last more than 3 decades of the research, modelling has been giving stern warnings on climate change that now has turned into the existentialist crisis.

So, what is the difference in messaging this time from the Working Group I of Sixth Assessment Report released on 9^th August 2021? The message is singularly different. It says ' we are failing and that time has run out to curtail the temperature rise to 1.5 deg C above the average of 1870-1900'.

The Sixth Working Group I report is based on the facts, observations and research. Extreme events are now widespread and everywhere, in all continents including the Arctic and Antarctica.

There is also one more important difference: After the Sixth Assessment report will be completed in 2022, a Seventh Assessment Report is likely to be published towards the end of this decade. The sixth report, therefore, will be the last IPCC report to be published when we still have hopes of survival and of averting the worst ravages of climate breakdown. After that, published reports would be only about the damages, collapsed societies, flooded roads and food shortages, record heatwaves accompanied by water shortages. They will be reports similar to what the media is reporting now on Coronavirus, delta- variants.

And yet another difference: There is no vaccine for Climate Pandemic - which I call 'CLIMAT-30' to mimic 'COVID-19'!

The hope, however, is youth in the universities and Higher Educational Institutes. They are building formidable Networks. (See Smart Campus Cloud Network - sccnhub.com) .

Rajendra Shende,

Chairman,TERRE Policy Centre 

Former Director ,UNEP